An 85-year-old man, Jimoh Oladiran, a resident of Somorin Alagbonmeta in the Obantoko area of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, has been reportedly killed by some persons said to be his relatives, a father and his son.
It was gathered that the relatives, identified as Alfa Mufatiu and his son, Ibrahim Mufatiu, had Saturday gone out with the late Oladiran to Asipa village for an unknown event.
In the evening, the children of the late old man became worried when their father did not return home from Asipa, a village located after Opeji, Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun.
On Sunday, the children said they went to the village, but they did not see their father.
On enquiry, Mufa’s wife was said to have “lied” that the deceased had gone to a neighbouring village.
However, they later discovered their father’s dead body beside a small river, covered with a rusty roofing sheet.
They suspected that he must have been hit with a stick in the head as he bled to death.
Sulaiman Oladiran, the eldest son of the deceased, said: “My father told me around 10 am on Saturday that he was going to Asipa with a man we have known as his relative, Alfa Mufa. He said they have a programme there. On Saturday night, we did not see him.
“I called our brother, who is the Baale of Asipa, Chief Kehinde Omirinde, and told him about it. He told me to wait until the next day before taking any steps to locate him.
“When we did not see him until 12 pm on Sunday, I called the Baale again; he said we should not wait any longer. So, we went to Asipa.
“At Asipa, we met Ibrahim Mufa’s wife, who told us to calm down, saying our father went to the next village, that he would soon return. But with the way she was nervous, I suspected all was not well. So I told my two other brothers.
“We saw Ibrahim Mufa coming from the river. We asked him where our father was and he said we should be patient. Later he said we should handle him gently or kill him. We just insisted on seeing our father. He started running away.
“At this point, the villagers have come out with sticks and cutlasses to attack us. Two of us ran away, but one of us was seized by the villagers.
“As we were running to Abeokuta with our motorbike to call the police, we met operatives of OP-MESA at Opeji. We told them what happened and they escorted us back to the village.
“When we returned to the village, they had already beaten my brother, Kazeem to stupor. The OP-MESA men arrested Alfa Mufatiu and handed him over to the police at Bode Olude.
“The following day, the police accompanied us to Asipa and Alfa Mufa took us to where our father was killed by the river. We observed that he was hit with something on the head. We saw blood on the mat they said he slept on. At the riverside where his corpse was dumped, we saw that his head was wrapped with a cloth full of blood.
“We took his body on Monday. It was already decomposing. We want Nigerians to assist us. We seek justice.”
Confirming the incident, the Baale, Chief Omirinde, said it was the late Oladiran who told him to allocate land to the suspects, who were unknown to him.
The village head said he did not know the men, adding that was why he did not go for the event they planned to hold on Saturday.
His words: “These suspects, Alfa Mufatiu (father) and Ibrahim Mufatiu (son) were brought to me by this same Jimoh Oladiran, a maternal cousin to my own father.
“One day, they called me that they needed land for farming, I don’t know how they got my phone number. I said no land for them.
“Three days after, they brought the deceased to plead on their behalf and I said they would get the land if the whole family endorsed it.
“But they told me they wanted to have a feast in the village, I said no problem.
“On Thursday, March 10, Ibrahim Mufa called me that the event would hold on Saturday; he told me to be there. But that day, I didn’t go.
“Surprisingly, late Oladiran went for the feast and he didn’t tell me, I would have told him not to go. It was the children that came to me when they didn’t see him to return home.
“It is so sad, they killed the man and threw his body near the river. I have captured Ibrahim Mufa myself at Elega Market and we have taken him to Fadage police station at Bode Olude.”
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, was unable to make any comment on the matter, asking to be given more time to be briefed.
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